Kitchen Pharmacy
The Urban Fringe Dispensary is at 58 Colston Street (top of Christmas Steps), Bristol.
To find out more about Max's clinical practice, workshops, walks and courses, visit www.maxdrake.co.uk or www.urbanfringe.org
For those who’ve come to love Max Drake’s regular column
on the healing power of plants, you might be interested to
hear about his latest venture...
Fast forward 160 years, and here I am setting up shop with my wife, Lisa, to provide easily accessible herbal medicines and practical courses on how to prepare and use them to the general public. Urban Fringe Dispensary, which is opening its doors in early this month, is Bristol’s first professional herbal clinic and dispensary. There are also three lovely treatment rooms, offering a range of other complementary therapies, including acupuncture, massage, counselling and more.
But why Urban Fringe you may ask? It’s about all the wild and cultivated green spaces in and around the city. It’s where we’ve been running courses for the past couple of years helping city folk form a more satisfying relationship with the natural world. Our vision has sprung from what we’ve discovered while running these courses. By learning about herbal medicine in a modern context, we can help to free our minds from the over-stimulation of consumerism, and engage more directly with living processes that have created and sustain us all. And if that’s not enough, you can discover the incredible healing properties of some common weeds growing around and about, that you’ve probably never really paid much attention to. We think this knowledge is important. It makes complete sense to grow medicinal plants here in the UK, to build up community resilience in the face of near future changes in legislation and the availability of resources. We want to spread the knowledge and skills required to use native and local plants and medicinal preparations, empowering folk to take responsibility for their health and the health of the community. We’ve got quite a clear vision for the future: We want there to be a herbalist on every street. For now, we can offer expert over-the-counter advice, private consultations, and very high quality bespoke herbal medicines, many of which are hand-pressed from locally grown herbs. We’ll also be carrying on running plenty of courses, day schools and guided herb walks to give you a chance to re-connect with nature, and your own health and well-being.
So come along and see what Urban Fringe Dispensary has to offer. Or just come and have a chat and a cup of herbal tea!
THE HOUSE OF HERBS
Just a few doors along from the top of Bristol’s famous Christmas Steps, there’s a lovely old 17th Century building that is now the new home for my herbal medicine practice. Back in the day when it was built, if you were feeling poorly, chances are you would consult your local Herbalist. Since then, our relationship with ‘plant medicines’ has been largely usurped by pharmaceutical drugs, although, of course, many of these were originally derived from plants. In the Victorian era, one of the most famous high-street pharmacies was founded (in 1849) by a herbalist on a mission to provide to provide affordable medical care to the local community, most of whom couldn't afford to see the doctor. His name was John Boot.Fast forward 160 years, and here I am setting up shop with my wife, Lisa, to provide easily accessible herbal medicines and practical courses on how to prepare and use them to the general public. Urban Fringe Dispensary, which is opening its doors in early this month, is Bristol’s first professional herbal clinic and dispensary. There are also three lovely treatment rooms, offering a range of other complementary therapies, including acupuncture, massage, counselling and more.
But why Urban Fringe you may ask? It’s about all the wild and cultivated green spaces in and around the city. It’s where we’ve been running courses for the past couple of years helping city folk form a more satisfying relationship with the natural world. Our vision has sprung from what we’ve discovered while running these courses. By learning about herbal medicine in a modern context, we can help to free our minds from the over-stimulation of consumerism, and engage more directly with living processes that have created and sustain us all. And if that’s not enough, you can discover the incredible healing properties of some common weeds growing around and about, that you’ve probably never really paid much attention to. We think this knowledge is important. It makes complete sense to grow medicinal plants here in the UK, to build up community resilience in the face of near future changes in legislation and the availability of resources. We want to spread the knowledge and skills required to use native and local plants and medicinal preparations, empowering folk to take responsibility for their health and the health of the community. We’ve got quite a clear vision for the future: We want there to be a herbalist on every street. For now, we can offer expert over-the-counter advice, private consultations, and very high quality bespoke herbal medicines, many of which are hand-pressed from locally grown herbs. We’ll also be carrying on running plenty of courses, day schools and guided herb walks to give you a chance to re-connect with nature, and your own health and well-being.
So come along and see what Urban Fringe Dispensary has to offer. Or just come and have a chat and a cup of herbal tea!